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How to Use and Wick Starburst Palm


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Summary

  • Starburst Palm produces candles with a needle-like crystalline surface pattern and a velvety feel.
  • Candles have good hot and cold scent throw.
  • May sweat fragrance oil while burning. This can be minimized with pouring technique or eliminated with an additive.
  • Sets up tighter in the mold than other types of palm pillar wax. Using an additive makes unmolding easy.
  • Sets up with a moderate amount of hidden void space that can be reduced by use of an additive. A second wax pour may not be required.
  • Manufacturer is a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

Manufactured by PT. Sumi Asih

Imported by CandleScience and The International Group, Inc.

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Additives

The addition of stearic acid as 2% of the wax composition or Feather Palm as 4% of the wax composition has multiple benefits with Starburst Palm. Using one of these additives is recommended for easier candle production and higher product quality.

Starburst Palm without additives may not always produce a crystalline pattern over the entire candle surface. The warmth of the flame may cause non-crystallized areas to sweat fragrance oil. Careful attention to slowing down the cooling of candles after pouring mitigates this problem by producing more complete crystallization over the candle surface, but using an additive helps ensure full crystallization.

Starburst Palm does not shrink away from the mold like other palm pillar waxes. Candles require more effort to unmold and may be more prone to getting scratched in the process. Using an additive causes candles to shrink away from the mold and makes unmolding very easy.

Both additives described above cause Starburst Palm to set up with less hidden void space. The addition of Feather Palm may be particularly effective for this purpose.

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Pouring & Finishing

Starburst Palm should be poured between 185° and 195° F into slightly pre-warmed molds. Good results may also be obtained with room temperature molds. Covering the candles with a box to slow down cooling produces a more extensive crystalline surface pattern and minimizes the sweating of fragrance oil while burning, especially when no additives are used.

A moderate amount of hidden void space forms near the bottom of the candle as Starburst Palm solidifies and shrinks, but it is not necessarily extensive enough to adversely affect burn quality. Use of an additive as described in the previous section is highly recommended to reduce hidden cavities. Pouring temperature has little effect on the formation of air pockets, but cooling candles slowly may be helpful in reducing their impact on burn performance. With good formulation and candlemaking procedure, a second wax pour may not be necessary.

To help ensure the candle extinguishes before hot wax can leak out, cut the wick so that it doesn’t reach the bottom. This may also reveal one of the larger hidden air pockets, which tends to form around the base of the wick. Overflow the hole slightly with 190° F wax to seal it. Level the bottom on a hot surface when fully cooled.

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Wick Selection

Wick sizes for certain candles are suggested below, but size selection should be based on testing. The best wick size should burn for the length of the test sessions without melting through the side of the candle. It should also not leave an excessively tall or thick shell of wax when the candle has burned to the bottom.

A wick that’s too small can produce a wide melt pool because melted wax accumulates faster than it can be burned. A large wick can also produce a wide melt pool from the heat of the flame. Wick sizes both larger and smaller than the best size may melt through the side of the candle in test burns. To avoid confusion over whether to wick up or down, it can be helpful to test a range of sizes simultaneously to find the wick with the most balanced burn.

3-inch pillars are typically designed and tested to burn for 3 to 4 hours at a time. To minimize the likelihood of hot wax melting through the side during a normal burn, 4-hour burn sessions may be the best choice for testing wick sizes.

RECOMMENDED: CSN

  • Fully compatible with Starburst Palm.
  • Burns true to size.
  • Consistent flame heights.
  • No manual wick trimming required.
  • Available as raw spooled wicking and wick assemblies.
  • Full size range for tealights, votives, containers and pillars.

3-Inch Pillars: CSN 14

Standard Votives: CSN 9

Manufacturer:

Suppliers:

USABLE: CD, CDN

  • Partially compatible with Starburst Palm.
  • Burns true to size upon lighting but subsequently fades.
  • Requires larger wick sizes.
  • Flames heights can be inconsistent.
  • Should be trimmed before the first lighting to avoid a large flame.
  • No manual wick trimming required for subsequent burns.
  • CD is available as raw spooled wicking and wick assemblies.
  • CDN is only available as wick assemblies.
  • CD has ample size options for pillars and votives.
  • CDN has ample size options for pillars, but votive sizes are not available.
  • CDN may slightly outperform CD and require smaller sizes.
  • CDN votive sizes and raw spooled wicking can be obtained in bulk quantities from specialty distributors.

3-Inch Pillars: CD 16, CD 18, CDN 14, CDN 16, CDN 18

Standard Votives: CD 5, CD 6, CDN 4

Manufacturer:

CD Suppliers:

CDN Suppliers:
,

POSSIBLY USABLE: HTP

  • Partially compatible with Starburst Palm.
  • Burns true to size upon lighting but subsequently fades.
  • Requires larger wick sizes.
  • Flames heights can be inconsistent.
  • Should be trimmed before the first lighting to avoid a large flame.
  • No manual wick trimming required for subsequent burns.
  • Available as raw spooled wicking and wick assemblies.
  • Size options for pillars may be inadequate because sizes are far apart.
  • Thickness of pillar sizes can be unwieldy for wicking molds.

3-Inch Pillars: HTP 105

Standard Votives: HTP 73, HTP 83, HTP 93

Manufacturer:

Suppliers:

POSSIBLY USABLE: Classic Flat Braid

  • Partially compatible with Starburst Palm.
  • Burns true to size upon lighting but subsequently fades.
  • Requires larger wick sizes.
  • Flames heights can be inconsistent.
  • Should be trimmed before the first lighting to avoid a large flame.
  • No manual wick trimming required for subsequent burns.
  • Available as raw spooled wicking.
  • Not suitable for votive or container candles.
  • Size options for pillars may be inadequate because sizes are far apart.

3-Inch Pillars: 30 Ply

Manufacturer:

Suppliers:
,

NOT RECOMMENDED: RRD NST2

  • Prone to mushroom in Starburst Palm.
  • Does not self-trim.

INCOMPATIBLE: ECO, LX

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Oh my gosh, Top, you're awesome!! Thank you for taking the time to create this report. It is incredibly insightful (and helpful) to those of us who are working with Palm wax. Oh, and anytime you want to share your recommendations on other waxes...feel free to lay it on us!!

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  • 3 months later...
How awesome! Thanks for sharing that info, as I am new to Palm wax. Are zincs not recommended for palm wax? :confused:

Zincs do not do well in Palm from my experience. The cooled meltpools are discolored, HT is not that good, do not self trim, etc. I think they just burn hot in palm, but maybe someone else can go into more detail.

Cheers,

Steve

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I tried using zincs and sat near the candle the whole time while testing. I think it did burn a bit fast, but no wonkiness occurred like crazy high flames or alot of smoking. I do want to use the wick that is recommended though, not just what I have on hand. I hope someone else chimes in about zincs in palm wax.....in the meantime I might have to do a search. :)

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I would only consider CDN, CD, CSN For palm. Top did alot of testing on the forum for all of us, and with my experience these are the only acceptable wicks for palm wax. IMO
I suggest that people use the wick that works best for them in their candle system. One person's test results do NOT fit all! :) Edited by Stella1952
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I suggest that people use the wick that works best for them in their candle system. One person's test results do NOT fit all! :)

Are you suggesting that you have had success with other wicks in Palm?

Not be picky - just that in Australia we are unable to get CD or CSN. I am not 100% happy with CDN and believe I can do better. If you have experience with another type that has worked in Palm I would be interested as I am running out of options for wicks to use that are available.

Bart70

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Bart70, You might want to try the flat braid 30, I think with what tops recommendation (spell?) was. Don't get discouraged. Did you read through all his post here? Good Luck and let us know how it goes, because it might help somebody else. I think it was Sabrina that used the flat braid wicks do a search on her post.

Soy327

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Wasn't suggesting anything other than I think people should do their own testing and use what works best for them in their candle systems. :)

No Probs....

Thought you might have had some specific wisdom to share about another wick type to try :smiley2:.

We are not blessed with the choice over here that you guys have unfortunately.

Cheers,

Bart70

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Bart70, You might want to try the flat braid 30, I think with what tops recommendation (spell?) was. Don't get discouraged. Did you read through all his post here? Good Luck and let us know how it goes, because it might help somebody else. I think it was Sabrina that used the flat braid wicks do a search on her post.

Soy327

Thanks Soy,

I am working with Feather Palm in particular and interested in wicks that work well generally with natural waxes. We can get CDN/Stabilo over here but no CSN.

I have read all of Top's testing posts and encounter most of the same shortcomings with CDN that he encountered. I am deadly keen to get my hands on some CSN but until it becomes economically viable to source it is of no use to me. I am curious to see if I get the same results as Top did with CSN.

Will look further into the flat braid....I do recall reading that somebody had used it succesfully.

Thanks again,

Bart70

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Will look further into the flat braid....I do recall reading that somebody had used it succesfully.

Was better for me in feather than starburst, mostly because the size worked out. Basically everything will be too small for a 3-inch pillar except maybe 30, and 36 will probably be too big. Large size gap there. If there was one more in-between size, seems like things would be different.

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  • 1 month later...
Was better for me in feather than starburst, mostly because the size worked out. Basically everything will be too small for a 3-inch pillar except maybe 30, and 36 will probably be too big. Large size gap there. If there was one more in-between size, seems like things would be different.

I tried 30,36,and 45 all tunneled. I tried like a 24 it tunneled even more. I will try http wicks and cotton core wicks...maybe cd wicks as well.

testing testing testing thats all it will take.

Edited by Gbhunter
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